The initiative will support all solutions that move society toward a sustainable solar-based energy system. It will highlight efforts in all major sectors and will not be limited to the industries typically included in the solar sector.

These policy and business efforts include:

• Constructing buildings powered by solar
• Manufacturing solar-powered vehicles
• Designing IT control systems for solar solutions
• Providing logistics for goods and services based on availability of solar energy
• Developing software applications that help customers understand the benefits of solar solutions
• Communicating key solar messages in marketing

Solar solutions is not about a specific company, sector, or technology; it’s a paradigm shift. Everyone can win by supporting solar solutions as they present a historic opportunity to support job creation and innovation – as well as CO2 reductions and a sustainable economy. This opportunity could be leveraged by the implementation of a “21st century solar map” using cutting-edge web solutions.

Read more about the 21st century solar map.

The criteria for inclusion in the map are:

1. Supporting innovation and knowledge through collaboration
2. Fighting unemployment and exclusion by creating new jobs
3. Ensuring green growth through more efficient use of resources and energy, and through the application of new, greener technologies
4. Creating smart transport and energy infrastructure for the 21st century

Ideas, companies, cities and individuals/clusters will be highlighted in this digital tool/web 2.0 platform to support the accelerated uptake of solar solutions by cities and companies.

This platform will:

• Identify strategic solar solutions for the future
• Provide best practices
• Facilitate interaction among change agents
• Support innovation
• Encourage job creation
• Identify thresholds

The platform will be open to all stakeholders supporting an accelerated uptake of solar solutions.

Download the information leaflet (pdf)

The two services looked into during this project were:

1. Teleworking:
   defined as performing work, either for an outside employer or through self-employment, at home or from any remote location (e.g. away from the office or any other “traditional” workplace)
2. Virtual meetings (also known as teleconferencing):
   defined as work related meetings involving two or more geographically separated locations and enabled by the use of telecommunication applications, in which communication may be exclusively audio Audioconferencing (AC), audio and video Videoconferencing (VC), or enabled by the web Webconferencing

The first part of the report provides a background on current trends in teleworking and virtual meetings in key regions around the world.   This is followed by the description of four potential ‘future worlds’ that would result in different outcomes of global GHG emissions. The final part of the report discusses the policies and strategies that can be deployed jointly, by policy makers and IT providers and users, to foster the adoption of solutions such as teleworking and virtual meetings and to maximize their benefits in terms of GHG emission reductions.

Utilizing different projections of future worlds, the report analyses not only the direct effect of these technologies, but also different types of indirect effects from the uptake of these technologies that can result in both decreased and increased  GHG emissions.  These can be characterized in two ways:

• Low-carbon feedback, if a solution that directly leads to GHG emissions reductions also generates changes in behaviour, economic activities, processes or societal organization that in turn lead to additional GHG reductions.
• High-carbon feedback, if a solution that directly leads to GHG emissions reductions also leads to changes in behaviour, economic activities, processes or societal organizations that in turn lead to additional GHG emissions, which may compensate, in full or partially, the GHG emission reductions initially/directly achieved.

Download the report in pdf (2.9MB)

The tool also features a trendsetter and global equity calculator that enables users to:

1. See what happens if the planned reductions in flying and commuting from a company were adopted by all companies
2. See what happens if every person in the world would travel like your company

http://www.worldwildlife.org/carbonprojector/

Internally at HP, the Sustainable Innovation Zone, SIZ, was launched in September 2007 for employees to submit ideas and suggestions on how information and communication technologies (ICT) services can help customers to reduce CO2 emissions in new innovative ways.

In parallel with the Sustainable Innovation Zone, the first billion tonnes of CO2 reductions using ICT solutions were mapped. The result was a report released in 2008 that provides a roadmap showing how companies, individuals and governments can use innovative ICT solutions that can contribute to the reduction of the first billion tonnes of CO2 reductions.

Alongside the report, a paper on how the ICT sector can take the lead in moving from an agenda of risk to profit in relation to climate change solutions was published in 2009.

A paper that explores the possibilities of introducing an offset scheme for conference travels and meetings that use the income to support increased use of virtual meetings was also published in 2009.

Suzanne Pahlman was the Project leader in charge of this work.

Download project information pack:

Folder Rethink: Living, working, moving, eating (1.9 MB)

Leaflet Sustainable Innovation Zone (373 kb)

Leaflet One billion tones of CO2 reductions (397 kb)

Leaflet From risk to profit (401 kb)

Leaflet Videoconferencing offsetting (373 kb)